In the conventional snap string device, a string is wound on a hub by means of a suitable handle. The string may be drawn out from the hub. The withdrawn string is caused to extend adjacent the surface on which a chalk line is to be marked, and the string is then subsequently pulled outwardly from the surface while the distal end and the end on the hub are fixedly held, whereupon release of the string causes a snapping thereof against the surface, leaving a chalk line on the surface deposited from the chalk with which the string is covered.